Sanford blasts new Trump tariffs

The tariffs the president signed into effect Tuesday came after Suniva Inc., a solar manufacturer in Georgia, filed a petition asking the International Trade Commission to look into whether so many solar cells were being imported that it hurt the domestic industry. This new tax would be a 30 percent increase on costs for solar panels coming into the United States. It is one of many solar farms that have sprung up around North Carolina, transforming a state long battered by global offshoring into the second-largest generator of solar electricity after California. "The overwhelming majority of the 260,000 solar jobs in the USA depend on the cheaper imported products", Height Securities said.

The tariffs, while applicable to all foreign producers, are mainly targeted at China, which has become a powerful player in the solar industry as its low-cost panels have become the dominant source for USA installers. It says its inclusion in the application of protections is "regrettable" given the U.S. International Trade Commission determined no damage exists to U.S. industry as a outcome of imports of Mexican washing machines.

The tariff declines slightly in the following two years.

Instead of imposing additional taxes, many suggest taking a different approach. Congress has no authority to review or veto his action.

The move is the first major tariff decision Trump has made unilaterally in office.

The USTR will impose a new 30% tariff on solar panel components, with the rates declining incrementally to 15% by the fourth year. Suniva is now owned by a Chinese company, Shunfeng International, and the other company that joined the petition, SolarWorld Americas Inc., based in OR, is the USA branch of a company based in Germany. Suniva, meanwhile, cheered the tariffs. Before today's push, the company had seen its stock price climb 161% over the a year ago.

"We're bringing business back to the United States for the first time in many, many years", he added. "It addresses the global import surge", Brightbill said. An analysis by GTM Research found that solar installations will continue to rise from 2018 to 2022, though there will be 11 percent fewer panels installed as a result of the tariffs.

"The U.S.'s decision.is an abuse of trade remedy measures, and China expresses strong dissatisfaction regarding this", Wang Hejun, the head of the commerce ministry's Trade Remedy and Investigation Bureau, said.

The move may add 10 percent to the cost of a utility-scale solar farm in the US and about 4 percent to rooftop units bought for homes, according to a report Tuesday by Bloomberg New Energy Finance. Solar panel pricing in the U.S. will increase temporarily and USA installations will drop but installations will trend upward again starting in 2019. In 2016, solar was the largest source of new US electricity-generating capacity.

The solar tariff was triggered by complaints from some USA solar manufacturers, but the action drew a dismayed reaction from the Solar Energy Industries Association (SEIA), whose members include installers, who worry more expensive solar panels will lead to job losses. "Our action today helps to create jobs in America for Americans".

"We had well over a hundred federal government meetings on the trade case, including probably dozens with members of the administration", said Abigail Ross Hopper, the CEO of SEIA, in an email. He has changed his mind. He said he might be forced to lay off up to 25 percent of his 3,200 installers.